A Vacation
by Jirel
Summary: G-Defend manga characters. You do NOT have to know the manga to enjoy this story. Why taking a vacation from the System Security team can be a very bad idea. Note: Chapter 9 has been corrected and reloaded. Rated M for physical abuse.
1. Chapter 1 A vacation

G-Defend. Happens after chapter 10.

NOTE: You do NOT need to be familiar with the manga to read this, I have included information on the characters.G-Defend and all of the characters associated with it belong to Morimoto Shuu. I've only taken them out of the box and played with them a while.

**2023**

At this time, easy, fast and inexpensive transportation has had an unexpected side effect, crime rates all over the world are rising. Eight years ago the World Congress created the System Security Team to protect and run a computer developed security system to help fight crime that effects the world government. The SST's main job is to keep diplomats and governemtn officials safe from assination attempts. To combat this system, criminals had determined that terrorist attacks on the leaders of the regional SST groups will do the most damage and be most likely to disrupt the teams. In the past 8 years, seven of the leaders (called "Instructors" by their teams ) of the Tokyo garrison have been killed. The current Instructor of the Japanese SST group (Ishikawa Haruku) has been in charge for just over 1 ½ years. Many people attribute this to his second in command and bodyguard, Iwase Motohisa.

"81...82...83..."

Ishikawa Haruku stood in the doorway of the shower and watched his second-in command, bodyguard and (in the last few months) lover doing one-handed pushups in the small walkway between their beds. Although he would never tell Iwase, he enjoyed the few times he managed to get out of the shower before Iwase finished his pushups. He liked watching the muscles in back, shoulder and chest work as the man did push up after push up. He even enjoyed watching the sweat begin to gather in his short dark hair, making it glisten. Ishikawa shook himself and moved around Iwase so that he could reach his futon. Tomorrow was a work day and he had no intention of letting himself get soft enough to give Iwase his way tonight.

"..100"

Iwase rose from the floor, grabbed his towel and pajama bottoms and tossed a smile in the direction of the man to his right, sitting on the bed with his back turned pointedly towards him. His smile widened as he walked out to take his own shower. He knew exactly what Ishikawa had been doing when he paused in the doorway, but saying anything about it would likely bring on another hissy fit just as when he had first told him he knew Ishikawa kissed him at night when he was supposedly asleep. He'd had to drag Haruku kicking and screaming into their relationship and that was despite the fact that he knew the man desperately loved him. Luckily Ishikawa had never tried to play poker, his emotions were constantly plastered across his face. He STILL thought that no one other than Nishiwaki in the entire garrison knew they were lovers. Hell, the man had almost collapsed after the bomb incident when everyone was looking for Iwase's remains but thought he could pass it off as "normal concern" for his second in command and bodyguard. (_Vol 2 ch 5.1 pg 100-102)_

(after shower)

Iwase grinned when he opened the door to a darkened room and quiet breathing. He knew Ishikawa wouldn't give him more than kisses tonight, but he still enjoyed teasing him about what he "expected' from him. He climbed into the bed and wrapped his arms around the smaller frame of his lover and then began licking his ear. "Iwase!" As expected Ishikawa's voice was petulant and the smaller man pushed halfheartedly against his companion's larger muscular frame. "Get off me!" Iwase just chuckled and bent further over his lover.... (Some time later). "Stop it. We have a cabinet meeting to watch over tomorrow and I have no intention of being distracted by, by being too sore to concentrate!"

"But I'll be gentle."

"You always say that. Besides, I have something else to talk to you about."

Iwase sighed and then propped his back up against the wall, pulling Ishikawa into his arms. He brought one leg up cuddling his partner with both his arms and his body and then relaxed. "All right Haruku, what do you want to say?"

"You haven't really taken any vacation time from the job, have you.?"

"Well, there was the weekend we went to see your family." What was Haruku getting at?

"That was MY vacation. You were there in your capacity of bodyguard, that was hardly a vacation for you. Besides, how long has it been since you saw your family? Isn't your sister graduating from high school this year?"

"Well, yeah, but we've been busy lately and -"

"And nothing! You need to spend some time with your family. You didn't even take time off after you had amnesia while in the US at the New York garrison."

"It wasn't like I was badly injured then. Besides, you were hurt and I needed to make sure no one attacked you while you couldn't defend yourself."

"Whatever." The man in his arms shrugged his shoulders. "Things should be quiet after the Congress ends. And I'm ordering you to take your vacation."

"Okay." Iwase started to smile at the idea of Haruku meeting his sister. "We'll go see my family and.."

"No."

"What?"

"I said 'no'. If I'm anywhere near you while you're on vacation, you'll be acting as my bodyguard. You'll go on your own."

Iwase shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I guess you'd be okay here at the garrison for a few days."

"I'm not going to be here".

"WHAT!" He felt stupid saying the same thing again, but dammit, what did Ishikawa think he was doing?

"I have even more vacation time available than you do. I'm taking a vacation too."

"No you're not!"

"Shut up, you haven't heard the entire plan yet."

"I don't like it."

"Not even when I promise 2 – 3 days alone with me? With no one else around?"

Iwashi's mouth dropped open. They had once had 12 hours alone in a hotel room in the US, with half the US garrison guarding the entire floor plus the ones above and below them to make sure the same terrorists that had kidnapped the group on their way to the airport for the flight back to Tokyo didn't get their hands on them again. They had both been refcuperating from what had happened during that kidnapping. It was the only time other than the nights in their own Tokyo garrison they had ever been alone. If you could count being in a room together behind a closed door while a hundred plus other guys walked the corridors in the same building; alone. Yeah, the door was reinforced so no one could break in. But both of them slept with their beepers nearby, constantly ready to be called for any emergency. Haruku actually thought he could find a way for them to be **really **alone???


	2. Chapter 2 Ishikawa goes home

Ishikawa relaxed into the soft chair of the bullet train, closed his eyes and smiled. Convincing Nishiwaki and a few other key members of the garrison to let him go on a vacation alone, actually hadn't been as difficult as he'd expected. There hadn't been that many objections and he'd been able to override them with minimal argument.

*** Flashback – Nishiwaki's office. Ishikawa is NOT there *****

"… and then he actually suggested we meet up for the last 3 days of the vacation! PLEASE Nishiwaki, help me get this through the Security Committee. I'm not keen about him going out 2 days on his own, but he's actually the one that wants us to have time together. I know you've always known about how I feel for the Instructor."

"And how he feels for you."

"Yeah, you probably knew about that before he did. So, please, help us get this time together."

Nishiwaki leaned back in his chair for a moment, looking at the wall. "Actually Iwase, Dr Sakai has been concerned about the Instructor recently."

"Concerned?"

"Yes, Ishikawa is the first Instructor here to last for more than year. He's concerned that the constant work stress and lack of privacy may be wearing on the heart and the nervous system. With what I know about the Instructor's nerves" - here he and Iwase exchanged a look in remembrance of past conversations (_chapter 4 around pg 37_) – I agree with him. The only time he's truly alone anymore is while in the bathroom, the shower and when making phone calls home. But his being alone away from the garrison while on vacation worries me."

"Don't we have people watching his family? So they can't be used as hostages against him?"

"Yes, just as there are people watching yours." Iwase sent him a surprised glance. "You're too high up now, your family has to be protected as well. I think this once, we will have to listen to the Instructor. He is; after all, not a helpless child." Iwase suddenly had a flashback of an arm stretched before him as the Inspector sheltered him from gunfire. He hadn't remembered who he was at that time, how to fight nor any of his training. But the Instructor had kept him safe time after time during both firefights and hand to hand combat while they were in enemy hands. _(Chapter 8 – 9) _No, the Instructor was not helpless at all.

******* end Flashback ******************************

He had agreed to spending an extra day with his brothers (no one had noticed him crossing his fingers behind his back) and to call in every morning of his "free" vacation. He had a cell phone with him (currently turned off) and was supposed to use it if anything "strange" happened. He snorted. He swore sometimes everyone forgot the 9 months he had served as Assistant Instructor to his predecessor. He did NOT need to be coddled like he would break if he stubbed his toe. He shook himself and sighed. No sense in getting upset about it now. He was on the trip home, on vacation. It was time to relax.

Later that night Haruka stared up at the wooden rafters over his bed. All had gone well, he arrived at his Uncle's house and had enough time before the boys got home from school that he and his Uncle were able to have a talk before they arrived. Mostly it consisted of an update on how both of them were doing in school. Susumu had gotten home first. He was doing well in school. He should have no problems going for any career he wanted. He wasn't a genius, he had to study to got those good grades, but he did get them. Noboru had been the surprise. Last time Haruka saw him Nobo-kun had been at the end of a growth spurt and had been the same height as Susumu, maybe an inch under his own 5'8". But in the past few months he had had a second and unexpected growth spurt. Susu had told him, but it still didn't prepare him for looking up into Nobo-kun's eyes. Nobo had laughed at his surprise and later that evening had made the mistake of trying to wrestle Haruka. Haruka didn't even use any of the self-defense tricks he had learned in the past 4 years. He just grabbed Nobo-kun and stood up holding him over his shoulder with his legs clamped against his chest. Noboru didn't have the strength to break his hold or do anything but try to throw himself out of Haruka's grasp.

Haruka grinned. Noboru was going to be a good sized man, but Haruka made sure he wrestled with Iwase on a regular basis. It was good to pit yourself against someone 8 inches taller and at least 60 - 80 lbs heavier. It not only kept him in shape, it helped him practice to be able to defeat any enemy he might encounter in hand to hand combat. (Ishikawa ignored the fact that he never beat Iwasi. It was one thing to say he wrestled with the larger man, it was another to say he won when he wrestled.)

Once more he closed his eyes. It was late, he should quit going over all the things that had happened today and get some sleep. Wasn't that part of what he was supposed to be doing with this vacation? But it wasn't long before he sighed and turned on his side. This wasn't helping at all. He needed to relax and go to sleep! Maybe things would be better after tomorrow. It was a Saturday and he intended to spend the half day after school with both the boys, talking and having a picnic. He would work hard on wearing himself out physically. And maybe after talking to Noboru about his job, some of the stress would leave.


	3. Chapter 3 The next afternoon

Chapter 3 – Relaxing

Haruka paused and then added yet more food to Noboru's backpack. With that growth spurt, he bet he ate even more than usual for the average teenage boy. He smiled, then a slightly sad look passed over his face. He had practically raised his brothers after their father's death. The only thing he didn't like about his job was the fact that it had taken him away from them before they were in college. He'd really enjoyed watching them grow from children to young adults and he missed not being able to watch them grow into the good men he knew they would be. But he'd known going into this that there would be sacrifices. Now if he could just get them to see why he'd done it.

"Ni-san! Ni-san!" The force of a body hitting him from behind drove Haruka into the counter. Noboru's arms snaked around his chest as he was hugged fiercely from behind.

"Hey, what's this? I was here last night remember? Relax." For just a moment Haruka felt as thought he was back 7 years and Noboru was 9 again. "With manners like this, no one would ever believe you were Japanese." Haruka was only partially kidding. Although he had always tried to make up for the loss of their parents by being very affectionate to his brothers, he'd never been particularly comfortable showing much affection in public.

"I'm sorry Ni-san." Noboru dropped his arms. "I just, for some reason I kept thinking I'd been dreaming last night. That you weren't really here. I can't believe you're going to be here for 2 whole days. It's been years since we've seen that much of you. The last time you came, you were only here for a day and ½ and that 'bodyguard'," the boy practically spit the word out, "was with you all the time. (_Vol 1, ch 3)_"

Haruka turned and saw Susumu in the doorway. Although he was smiling, his eyes looked a little sad. Haruka felt a small pain in his heart. Was he hurting the entire family with his job? Could he really justify being away so much? Did they constantly think he was going to die like their father? Were they ever happy? A jerk on his arm pulled his attention away from his internal musings and he looked over – at Noboru's chin. An involuntary grin tugged at his lips as he adjusted his glaze upwards. "Looks like I still haven't gotten used to your height, Nobo-chan. Come on, change out of your school uniforms and let's go for our hike. I don't want to discuss Iwasi right now. Let's just enjoy our time together." Susumu touched Noboru's arm and the two boys left together to change. Then they all collected their backpacks and climbed in the car for the drive to the nearby National Park.

Sorry this is so short, but the next chapter will make up for it. This just became a natural breaking point.


	4. Chapter 4 The Discussion

Ishikawa stretched his legs in sheer pleasure and walked even more quickly. He'd forgotten how much he enjoyed hiking the hills here. A soft breeze blew his hair against his face and rustled the leaves in the nearby trees. The grass, long and uncut, brushed against the legs of his jeans, wildflowers peeping up here and there in all the colors of nature. He loved the passing of the sun and shadows on his face, the warmth of the breeze and the gentle exercise of walking. It was a simple pleasure and one he had once taken for granted. Anymore his life consisted of gray walls, computer terminals and responsibility. He never had time for simple pleasures. And then, a large yet gentle face topped with short black hair appeared in front of his eyes and he felt the warmth of large mouth over his. Well, there **were** some compensations. No, he didn't wish he could change the past just so he could go back to being able to take hikes whenever he wanted.

"Haru-kun! Hold up a bit." Susumu's voice was faint and in the distance.

A glance back showed him that he had outdistanced both of his brothers. For the first 30 minutes the brothers had discussed school and recent awards, but the talk had gradually slowed as the climb grew steeper. The silence had allowed Haruka to think rather than talk and he hadn't noticed when they started falling behind. "Hurry up you two." he called back. "We don't have all day! Nobo-chan, I thought you won a marathon last year. Are you really this slow?" He laughed as both boys broke into a run pushing each other to one side or another as they tried to each have the best path up the slope.

It was actually only a few minutes until they reached the spot they usually picnicked at. Haruka leaned back against the tree trunk he had claimed as his privilege as older brother and looked down at the valley below while the other two pulled out food and made disparaging remarks about each other's race up the hill.

"Haru-kun" Susumu's voice broke into more musings about his job and his brothers.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong? Is it something with work? Are you sick, did something happen to Iwase"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, we can both tell when something's bothering you. You always start thinking about it over and over and get kind of silent. You've always been like that. And didn't you promise us after... after Dad died that you wouldn't hold secrets from us?"

Both Susumu and Noboru were watching him with concern on their faces. "Nothing's wrong at work. Yes I do want to talk to you about something but we can finish lunch first. It's nothing serious nor is it a problem. I just wanted to talk you guys a bit about some stuff that's been on my mind." They smiled in relief and then began eating lunch. Noboru finished every bit of food in his backpack and tried to snitch some of Susumu's. As he finished his, Haruka became aware that both of his brothers were sitting back, done with their food and waiting for him to speak. He sighed.

"Well, this wasn't exactly the way I had intended to start this." He smiled slightly, "I had no idea you two were that good at reading me. I wanted to talk to you about why I got into protecting people and to try to make you understand why I'm doing this in hopes that you will be more understanding."

"What's there to understand?" Noboru snapped. "You're the number one target of every terrorist in Tokyo, possibly all of Japan and the odds are one of these days you'll come home in a body bag!" His voice shook and he jumped up and started to stalk off into the trees.

Haruka stared as his brother started to walk off and then suddenly realized there was only one way to handle this if he wanted to get both his brothers to listen to him. "Stop right there, Noboru!" It was his Instructor's voice, the one he used when someone started to do something stupid. Noboru stopped in his tracks, startled at the tone. He'd **never** heard his brother sound like that. "Now come back here and sit down. Stop acting like a child. You don't have to like what I'm going to say but you do have to listen." Noboru stood there for a moment and then his back slumped and he walked back to the rest, each step seeming to be dragged out of molasses. Finally he dropped bonelessly to the grass near his brothers.

"I'm sorry, but I know this isn't going to be easy on either of you. I've decided its time I made you understand what I'm doing and why. Yes, Noboru, you're correct. The odds are good that I'll die doing what I'm doing, its something all of us at the garrison have to deal with. Some of us more than others. But I want you to think back to 9 years ago. The only thing anyone had against Father was that he was a member of the Senate. Terrorists were trying to disrupt the government; whether to cause internal problems or just to disrupt things so badly that they could take over parts of the cities or maybe even just to get a chance for extra looting; we don't know. And because of that, they set off car bombs, one of which killed father and left us orphans." Haruka paused for a moment to take a drink of the bottle of water left over from lunch.

"The basic definition of my job is to keep terrorists from disrupting the government and its procedures. But that's not why I'm doing my job today. If it was today's security; if it was one of the teams I'm in charge of now, that bomb would never have been in the car. It would never have gone off and Father would still be alive. I don't do this job because I want to keep the nation safe. I do it because I don't ever again want to see 6 and 9 year old children orphaned. I don't want any more kids crying by graves because their parents have been taken from them by terrorists. I waited until you boys were in your teens before I went into the command track. I know that if I die it won't be easy on you, but you're old enough now to start living your own life. You can continue on and become good men without me."

Up until now he hadn't really looked at either of them, but the quiet sob from Noboru didn't surprise him. What did surprise him was the tear rolling down Susumu's face. "Look, I don't plan on dying. And" here he managed to smile, "Iwase definitely doesn't plan on **allowing** me to die. I'm also not happy that I'm missing out on being with you while you finish school, find the ones you love and move on to being men. I love both of you and I miss you all the time. It's just; its hard to say it, but I feel you can stand on your own now and there are so many children out there who can't. I have to help protect them as much as I can. Its my job and what I was meant to do with my life."

Haruka raised up to a straightened kneeling position and held his arms out to his brothers. Each one came over and knelt to be gathered into his arms. "I love you both, I'm proud of you both. Uncle is doing a fine job of watching over you without me being here. I wish I could be with you, Noboru. I wish you didn't hate my job, but I **have** to do this no matter how dangerous it is. Do you know that in the year and a half that I've been the Instructor at the garrison we've stopped 5 different attacks on government meetings and officials. We're saving lives, and I'm proud to have even a small part in all of it. " He fell quiet, finally done talking. All of them stayed together in a family hug, drawing strength from each other.

Later, as they started back to the car, the boys started teasing him about picking up Noboru the night before. Because he still wanted to tire himself out (not, of course because of any sibling rivalry remaining from childhood) Haruka led them all on a run up and down the slopes, crisscrossing the trail back to the car for over an hour before dropping to the ground and doing push ups. By the time he finished, Susumu was staggering as he tried to walk and Noboru was sweating heavily. Haruka walked over and propped a shoulder under Susumu. "Susu-chan, you really should get more exercise. Nobo-chan, if you think this is bad you should see our Annual Communication Game of Tag _(Vol 3, Ch 6.1)_. It lasts all day and takes place inside the entire garrison." Noboru stared at him and then realized that Haruka was just lightly sweating.

Haruka was not surprised when they walked up to the car to spot a familiar looking form looking around at the map station. As the boys walked up the the car and began putting items in the car, he saw the figure raise his hand and make the "safe" sign. He knew there were watchers on the family, and it made him feel good to know there had been watchers on the car while they were gone. Yes, he was right. In today's world, with **his** team on guard, there would never have been a car bomb. But what Haruka did not know was that he was really not as safe as he thought.


	5. Chapter 5 Setting Up

Chapter 5 – Setting up.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." muttered the small man who was not actually behind the curtain but rather up in a tree. He watched as the sleek gray car slid into place in front of the timber framed modern Japanese home. The car parked where he had hoped it would and a man and two teens, all bearing a marked to resemblance to each other climbed out the car, gathered their gear and began walking towards the house. For just a moment the sights of the rifle rested on the back of the tall blonde man walking in the group but then they moved on. No, no. They didn't want him dead. At least not yet. Instead, the man used the scope to check on the two guards, one in a tree of his own near the driveway entrance and the other walking a path around the grounds of the house, one that kept him out of sight of the house itself yet gave him a view of the yard. The small man wondered for a moment if it had all be deliberately landscaped to allow a guard path and then shrugged. He really didn't care. Besides the man on the ground was now almost directly opposite his target and as far away from it as possible. The rifle sight swung up and the bulb in the security lamp slightly to the left of the car disintegrated. There was no sound from rifle and almost none from the light bulb. Neither of the guards appeared to notice anything. The small man smiled to himself and climbed down out of the tree. Nothing more to do now until nightfall.

3am and the small man, now clad in mottled light and dark gray clothes moved slowly on the ground towards the yard. As hoped, no one had decided the broken security light was worth a rush fix job. They would leave it until tomorrow. It may be that they still thought the bulb had just been burnt out, or even accidentally broken from something tossed around on yesterday's breeze. This wasn't an important light. It wasn't near the entrance to the property via the driveway. Nor was it on a side close to the neighbor's house. All it did was put one patch of ground, and the front right fender and tire of the gray car in shadow. Once again, he timed the guards rounds. There were more of them at night but that was okay, what he had to do wouldn't take long. He reached the short row of bushes inside the car parking area an paused as a guard wondered by. After counting to 15 he moved slowly out from the bushes into the shadow that existed for tonight only and pushed a small plastic box under the right fender. It was less than 1 X 1 inches in size and wouldn't show up on any metal or bomb detectors. Well, to be fair, it wasn't a bomb. Now the man turned to retrace his careful steps back out of yard and into the forest. It wouldn't do to get caught on the return journey. Then they would be too suspicious.

********GD********GD****

Whoa, another short chapter. :) But now we're finally getting the idea that something is going to happen. What? And when?


	6. Chapter 6 Getting away

Chapter 6 - Getaway

Haruka gave a final wave as the house slid out of sight in the early morning light. The last 36 hours had been great. He had had a wonderful night's sleep on Saturday. Sunday they all slept in and then worked together to prepare Sunday lunch. He had talked to Susumu abut college and what he intended to study. Noboru had (not to surprisingly) expressed an interest in the type of training they did at the garrison. He had looked a little shell shocked when Haruku finished with the description of the training the new recruits performed. He had even had a chance for a long talk with his uncle about how he was doing at work and what **he** thought the boys would wind up doing in the next few years. All in all, he was feeling more comfortable about his relationship with his brothers than he had since he started working for the SST garrison. Noboru still wasn't really happy about his job, but at least he knew why Haruka was doing it and he seemed to be starting to accept his choice.

And now he was on the road in a rented car a day earlier than Nishiwaki (or maybe even Iwase) expected. He had told them he would stay through Monday and then be back at the garrison by Friday night. But he had told the boys he could only stay **to **Monday, not **through it.** Of course, the guards at the house would realize he wasn't coming back and call in; but the phones they were allowed while on duty were only supposed to be used for a real emergency, the type you call 911 on. He doubted this would qualify. And even if it did, what could they do? With the phone turned off he couldn't be tracked. And – with perfect timing the sign for a small highway appeared and he made the right hand turn – there were several different ways he could be going, they would have trouble trying to find him. Since they had agreed to let him go on vacation, they could hardly make a huge effort to find him just because he actually made his "trackless vacation" really trackless.

(6 hours later at the Tokyo garrison.)

A pall hung over the garrison's corridors and rooms. No one knew what was wrong. All they knew was that the enigmatic, imperturbable Nishiwaki was not being his normal imperturbable self. For the first couple of days after the Instructor had left, everything had been fine. Iwase had left last night for his (shorter) vacation but no one had noticed a change until sometime after lunch when Nishiwaki had left his office and within 5 minutes yelled at someone for wearing a stained uniform. Usually if he caught someone in a stained uniform there would be no reaction at all, just 10 demerits points showing up on their account for 'uniform unbecoming'. But not only had he mentioned it, he had **yelled**. They couldn't remember the last time Nishiwaki had yelled at anyone. Even when bombs exploded he was calm and collected, only raising his voice when there was too much noise for it to be heard at a normal level. Then, while walking on the 2nd floor, he decided that a couple of workers were talking too much about things not involving work. And proved that he could give a tongue lashing every bit as good as the Instructor's. By now, no one wanted to catch his attention.

Some word of what was going on must have leaked up into the medical level as Dr Hashizume managed to appear in front of Nishiwaki as he headed down the ramp to the basement. "Nishiwaki. I was just going to take tea, would you like some?"

"I need to inspect the cooling equipment in the basement."

"I'm sure Mifune can handle that. Besides, you're late for you last physical exam."

Nishiwaki's attention was pulled away momentarily by movement and he watched as Kishitani; head chef and the one man in the entire garrison that could probably match Iwase's height and weight, started to turn into the same corridor as Nishiwaki was standing. Kishitani saw him standing next to Hashizume; flinched and turned away into another part of the corridor. He sighed. "Yes doctor, lets have tea."

…....

"I don't understand the problem."

"You don't understand the problem!!?? We don't have the slightest idea where he is, he's turned his cell phone off and, and he left his home early!"

"Wasn't the entire idea of this vacation that he was supposed to get away from the stresses of the garrison and try to forget his job for awhile? Aren't you just unhappy that he decided to go on his own for the vacation as he had originally planned? Did he ever set any particular time frame or just nod along to your suggestions?"

Nishiwaki opened his mouth and then stopped and closed it. He stared right through Hashizune for almost a minute before the corners of his mouth twitched and he almost smiled. "So, you are saying that I am upset because the Instructor has acted like an Instructor instead of taking orders from me?"

The doctor merely raised his cup of tea, and an eyebrow, and sipped at his drink.

******GD**** GD ****

Okay, so its the first time we see the doctor being more calm than Nishiwaki, I still think it could happen.


	7. Chapter 7 Crusader

Chapter 7

It was well after lunch before Haruka found a town with a place to eat in it. He was far into the mountains of Japan on a small two lane road. The air here was cooler than it had been down on the mainland. He had been enjoying the views, even stopping a couple of times at overlooks to gaze down into valleys and towns. In a way it was too bad it wasn't fall when he could enjoy the colors of the leaves but it was still beautiful. He felt like he was more relaxed than he had been in years. The sky shone blue, there was a gentle warmth in the rays of the sun and no one, **no one** was around to ask questions, announce an emergency or need to be told what to do. He smiled as he climbed out of the car, his biggest decision in the next hour would be what to order for lunch.

Haruka was still smiling as he emerged from the restaurant. Lunch had been delicious and light in calories. He needed to be careful not to gain too much weight on vacation, driving a car wasn't that vigorous of an activity. Maybe there were hiking trails nearby and a hotel? It might be nice to stay in the area for awhile. He started to put his keys in the car door and then jerked. What the? A bee sting through his shirt? He looked down at his arm and saw a small smudge of blood. Suddenly he staggered slightly loosing his balance. He felt hands close on his arms.

The small man smiled and walked out of the shadows between two buildings across the street from the where Ishikawa stood. Once again it was handy to be so small and unnoticeable. And it was handy to have a tracers small enough to put into a plastic 1x1 box with sticky glue on the back and small darts loaded with sedative that were too small to be seen sticking out of the skin. Sometimes being small was also very, very profitable. Mission accomplished, it was time to collect his money and move on to the next case.

"Ishikawa my friend, what is wrong. Are you ill? Come let us take you to our room." Haruka tried to shrug off the hands, to say that he had no friends in this town but he seemed unable to do more than make weak ineffectual movements. And as he was moved towards a waiting car his vision began to darken. No, he had to stop this, he couldn't be taken, he had to – the rest of the thought was submerged in blackness as the sedative took over his body.

Haruka awoke to find himself strapped to a heavy wooden chair. He tried to jerk with his body and move the chair but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't move it. It was some time before anyone came into the room. Long enough for him to make an accurate guess as to how big the room was, notice that there was one window in the rooms and to see from the long shadows growing outside that it was probably early evening. He had the sinking feeling that he was going to find that this unmonitored vacation was not the best idea he'd ever had. He gave himself a shake, fine. He'd just have to escape, find his car and pretend all this had never happened, he'd defeated worse odds. But he found himself wishing Iwase was by his side.

Finally a group of men entered the room, lead by a brown-haired man in a blue suit. "Well Haruka, I'm glad you came. How nice of you to come visit us for a while." The men behind him all chuckled as if he had made an especially witty joke. Haruka bristled at the use of his first name but didn't say anything. Since they hadn't killed him outright he knew what they were after; information. The less he said in casual conversation the less likely he would say something, anything that might be of use to the terrorists. The man ignored his silence and moved forward to pat his shoulder. "And only 3 days into your vacation! Why, the garrison will be without you for another 4 entire days." A cruel smile appeared on his lips. "More than long enough for us to use information you know to break into the garrison and set things up for our little plan."

"I'm supposed to check in every morning via the cell phone." Haruka spat out in an effort to make the man think his plan wouldn't work. "They'll know something's wrong. Security will tighten and - "

"Oh I don't think so." The brown-haired man cut Haruka off. "They'll just think its part of your effort to truly have a 'traceless' holiday. You never wanted that contact anyway." Haruka started, how did they know that? Where had they gotten that information?"

Further musings were cut off as a cart was wheeled into the room with two syringes full of liquid on it. "Oh, I'm sorry," the man said " here I've been talking without introducing myself. I'm Crusader." Haruka had to work to keep his jaw from dropping. Crusader was a self-appointed avenger of the 'common people's rights'. Where the 'common people' were the yakuza that roamed the back streets and slums of Japan. SST had already tangled with him several times, it was well known that he had no concern for life, killing anyone that got in his way. It was said that he was the one that had paid for the Chameleon bomb to be developed, the one that had almost killed Iwase (vol 1, chapter 1).

Haruka's attention was pulled back to what was currently happening as Crusader approached him with a syringe in his hand. "So tell me, where would you like your injection? The left arm or the right?" The man grinned down at him, "I've heard it does tend to make the arm sore, especially when handled by one who is less than expert at it."

Haruka was silent.

"No preference? Than I guess I'll pick for you." As they began rolling up his shirt sleeve on his left arm. Haruka closed his eyes. "Motohisa" he thought silently. "I'm sorry. Please take care of my brothers."

The needle had just started to pierce his flesh when there was a commotion at the doorway of the room.

"Boss! Boss! Stop! Iscariot says he's been made allergic to sodium pentathol. You use it and he'll die!"

The needle was removed from his arm and there was a small click as it was set back down on the tray. Haruka opened his eyes to see Crusader suddenly stride quickly to the man that had just entered and send him crashing into the doorway with a fist to his face. "What have I said about never using personal names?"

The man held in his vise-like grip slid his eyes over towards Ishikawa. "It's not like he's every going to be able to use the information." he muttered. That earned him another hit, this one in the stomach.


	8. Chapter 8 Escape

Chapter 8

After staring at the red welt on Ishikawa's arm left by the tiny amount of the drug on the tip of the needle, Crusader had whirled and stalked off out of the room, followed by the cluster of men he had arrived with. Haruka tried to think why the name Iscariot had been so important, surely if it was just another member of the organization he wouldn't be so upset. Which meant there had to be something special about the same. Iscariot. Haruka's eyes narrowed in thought. No, it couldn't be. There was an Iscariot in the garrison, he was a very low-level tech but – could he be feeding Crusader what information he had? He couldn't have access to too much, his level wasn't high enough for that but still – whatever information he had was too much to give someone like Crusader. But the members of the garrison were well vetted. Maybe it was a brother? Someone he had just let some information slip too? And surely the man couldn't have guessed how vital information about his vacation could have been.

Suddenly Haruka heard hammering from a nearby room. He listened, curious as to what was going on but well aware he would never find out. Still it gave him something else to think about.

Not long after the hammering stopped, Crusader walked into the room with his little following. "All right boys, lets move him." Haruka suddenly realized there were only 4 men in the group. Good, they'd underestimated him. So many people did. He wasn't especially tall or bulky in built, but he'd trained to make what he had work as well as possible. With his job, good reflexes and muscles had saved him more than once. Iwase wasn't the only reason he was still alive after one and half years. It would be best to wait until they were in the hallway and he could figure out in which direction to run.

The followers unstrapped him from the chair and pushed him towards the hallway. He stumbled more than necessary to try to act as though his legs were numb from being strapped down. He wasn't going to get a chance to warm up for this. Crusader turned left at the door, so he decided he would run to the right. His left leg swung up in a round house kick to take the front left man in the chin with a sharp crack. He continued the move with his body and swung an elbow into the stomach of the man behind him. As the first man began to slump unconscious to the floor, the second grabbed his stomach and gasped once before spilling his dinner all over the floor. Haruka ended the swing facing back the way he had started and then put both feet briefly on the floor and took a step forward to position his feet. Crusader had turned around and the man nearest him starting to move towards Haruka. He grabbed that man in a judo hold and threw him into Crusader. Crusader and 3 of his men down, only one left. The last man had drawn a gun but hesitated when a gasping "Alive!" came out of Crusader laying on the floor under his man. Using the man's indecision Haruka threw himself into him knocking him back against the wall and grabbing his gun. A quick chop to the neck knocked him out and then Haruka was running for the end of the corridor.

Unfortunately alive didn't mean unhurt. He had just reached the end of the hallway when a shot rang up and pain ran up his right arm. A quick look back showed Crusader lying on the floor with a gun in his hand. Haruka turned towards the stairs he had spotted and kept running but he was familiar with that pain. The bullet had hit his right arm and he could no longer use the gun in that hand. He could shoot with his left hand, but not well. Unfortunately he was counting on speed to get him out, not stealth. Which meant he made enough noise going down the stairs for the two men on the next door to position themselves on either side of the exit from the stairs. Equally unfortunately the one on his right grabbed his arm right where the bullet had gone in. The pain stopped him in his tracks and his vision began blur. The next he knew, he felt his arms wrenched behind his back, the pain in the right driving him to his knees and then handcuffs were snapped around his wrists.

Haruka came back to his senses as he was being half dragged half walked into a room where Crusader stood scowling at anyone and everyone in the room. A set of chains hung on the wall. Haruka wondered if that was what all the banging had been about. One man held on to him as Crusader walked over to him and then grabbed his right shirt sleeve and ripped it off his arm. The man looked closely at the bullet hole and then tied the material of the sleeve around his arm, over the wound and stopping the bleeding. He gave a vicious yank as he tied the material down but Haruka managed to grit his teeth and not cry out.

Crusader turned to the man at Haruka's back. "You! Hold him tightly. Put that hand on the lower part of his arm so you don't knock him out grabbing the wound. Vinnie! Soften him up for me." Haruka grunted as a fist slammed into his ribs. The next blow took him hard on the opposite of his body. The hits moved up and down his body from his face to his abdomen. Soon his awareness narrowed into hanging on to consciousness as blow after blow fell on his body. He didn't even notice when that consciousness faded and the blows began to drift away from him.

Suddenly he was on the floor and his face and hair was soaking wet with extremely cold water. "Alright," it was Crusader's voice. "Stand him up again." Haruka was hauled to his feet, wavering a bit as he tried to get his balance. Almost immediately those hands were again on his arms, holding him steady. "Strip him." He tried to struggle but it was totally ineffective. He couldn't break the hold on his arms, he felt like he would be lucky if he could still walk. Hands tugged at his shirt and when the problem with the handcuffs were encountered a knife came out to cut the sleeves off him. One after another his shoes and socks came off, then his pants and underwear were tugged down around his ankles and off his feet. Crusader came over and stood directly in front of him. We'll give you a night to think it over. Decide whether or not you want to talk. Things will only get worse from here on out you know. All we want is the codes to get through the firewall around the command center. Oh, and **this** is for tryng to escape." He leaned into Haruka and then brought his knee up hard into Haruka's groin.

He couldn't stop the high pitched whimper from escaping out of his throat as he slid to the floor hunched over as best he could in the fetal position. He was dimly aware of several kicks against his back, in the kidneys and on his spine. Finally one hit his head and he floated down into the welcoming darkness.


	9. Chapter 9 ch 9 has been fixed

Chapter 9, 72 hours

Haruka groaned and struggled to sit up straight. Muscles all over his body were stiff and crying out in pain. There seemed to be manacles on his hands and chains that fastened to the wall. One particular muscle was not stiff but was definitely in pain. It didn't help that he also had to urinate. He noticed two plastic buckets within reach, one turned out to be empty. Groaning he made use of it, difficult though it was to work around the swelling caused by Crusader's knee. A quick check of the other revealed water that he carefully drank, trying not to spill any in his eagerness. Although light shone in from the hallway, he assumed it was still night. He definitely didn't feel as thought he had been asleep very long, and he doubted the pain in his body would let him get back to sleep for some time yet. And the lack of clothes made him cold, the temperature in the building too cool for some kept inactive and nude.

He knew all this was deliberate. Lack of sleep to make him groggy. Nude to make him feel defenseless and to try and break his spirit. No food to make him weak. Looking around he noticed no windows in the room and wondered if they would eventually try to twist his sense of time. Muscles screaming in protest he sat back on his haunches. Should he kill himself? If there were truly no hope of rescue – then he remembered.

******* 3 months before ************

He had been attending a highly unusual, top secret meeting of all garrison leaders in Southeast Asia. The regional leader was the lecturer. They had covered several up and coming technical advancements although none of them seemed important enough to warrant a top level meeting without second in commands when the regional Instructor had started the last day's topics. Using a pair of tweezers he held up something so small that none of them could completely make it out. "This, gentlemen, is the reason for this meeting. This is a tracking device. When you are guarding a government official who maybe a target for kidnapping you are to find someway to put it on that person. We do NOT want the opposition to know we have such things, that way they will, hopefully, not search for and discard them. Therefor; do not let the person you are guarding know about them. Do not spread the word among your men unless there is a very, very strong need to know. This is the last resort for finding a kidnap victim. Once others know about it, it will be useless. Each garrison will get 4 of these. We have a tracking satellite in space that can be used to find each device. Each device is registered with its own security number and frequency. If you need to find someone who has a device on them, contact the regional office and report a code 301, that will get you to the proper people who can use the security number of that device to find the victim."

"Now, we all know that **you** are the ones most likely to be kidnapped. You each have knowledge that terrorist would kill for. So each one of you will have one of these inserted beneath your skin at the juncture of your shoulder and your neck. Should any of you "disappear", we will be able to hunt you down and find you. For that reason, you should tell one, at the most two, of your most trustworthy men about this so that they can call us and report a 10-00 situation if that happens. Then we will find you."

******* end flashback ******

So – sometime Wednesday Iwase would arrive at the Bed and Breakfast they were supposed to meet at and find him missing. How long would it take him to report it? If he knew his lover he would be frantic but lie to himself and say he was fine. It would probably be nightfall before he was certain something was wrong. Maybe he wouldn't even call in until Thursday morning. So, if Iwase called in on Thursday morning, they would start tracking him almost immediately. Say 2 hours to find him, 4 hours to plan an assult and up to 3 hours to start it. Maybe a full day. They would probably be here by Thursday night. So all he had to do was hang on until Thursday night, approximately 72 hours. Haruka's stomach twisted. This wasn't going to be fun, it probably wouldn't even be bearable. But he **had** to do it. Just 72 hours, he just had to hold on for 72 hours.

********* GD ************

Sorry – no action in this chapter, and I'm not sure how much in the next. I had thought I would have more going on but setting things up for the next few chapters took longer than I thought. I sure hope that some day I'm not talking to myself and someone out there actually reads and reviews this story. Its my first real story.


	10. Chapter 10 Morning, First Day

Chapter 10 - Morning of the first day

Mifune looked at the two empty seats to each side of Nishiwaki and sighed. He picked up his breakfast tray and walked over to sit down next to him. "Okay, now what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Good try but your voice is slightly harsh and your eyes are too narrow to pull off unconcern. Something has you wound up and I want to find the cause before you bring the entire garrison to tears."

Nishiwaki grunted. "After breakfast."

After clearing their trays and stacking them the two went up to Nishiwaki's office. "The Instructor left his family home yesterday morning not today; and he hasn't called in this morning."

Mifune sat for a moment and stared at the 3rd in command. "And you **expected** him to call in?" He started laughing and continued until he was wiping tears from his eyes. "Next you'll be telling me that you don't think he's spend anytime with Iwase on this "solitary, wandering" vacation of his." He started chuckling again.

"No," Nishiwaki ground out between his teeth. "I am not going to say that. But they aren't due to get together until Wednesday -"

"And that's tomorrow. Give it a rest Nishiwaki. Give the Instructor a rest."

The two were interrupted by a beeping from Nishiwaki's pocket. He flipped open the phone and listened. "Got it." he snapped, then punch a few more buttons on the phone. "Noda, grab Morishige and meet Mifune and me in the briefing room ASAP." He flipped the phone closed and stood up. "Lets go, someone's called in a bomb threat to the American Embassy."

************ GD **************************

Haruka was still awake when Crusader strolled into the room, once again followed by his 4 closest followers. One of them, a tall heavyset, brown-haired man fastened his eyes on Haruka and seemed to leer at him. Haruka ignored him. Better not to pay any attention to looks, threats, leers are anything like that. Crusader looked him up and down. "Well, now that you've had all night to think about it, what do you say? Cooperate and things will go much better for you. We both know how bad this can get." Haruka just sat against the wall saying nothing. Crusader let the silence grew for a few minutes. "Alright Vinny, go ahead."

He was yanked by his left arm and turned around to face the wall; then a crude blindfold was tied around his eyes. Next he was swung around to face front again and his hands were raised. It felt and sounded as if the chains were somehow looped over something so that his hands were above his head and pulled together. The motion pulled at his right arm and there was a flash of pain in his wound. Next he felt a warm trickle down his arm and knew that the wound had broken open again. It had felt warm to the touch this morning. If this kept up it might get infected. He'd have to be careful if he got feverish. He didn't want to blurt anything out while in a fever.

He gasped as a sudden blow to the stomach caught him unawares. With the blindfold on he couldn't see the blows coming. The man, probably Vinnie, played up to this; hitting him in a non-rhythmic manner, sometimes waiting almost 60 seconds before landing a blow. The beating seemed to go on forever. Not hard enough to break bones or knock him out, but enough to leave bruises that went below the surface of his skin and into the muscles. The blows hit over and over again. He wouldn't even be able to walk let alone run away when this was over. He kept his teeth clenched to avoid crying out or moaning; but the pain hung like a heavy haze over his body. One blow crashed into his face and he heard a crunch from his nose and tasted blood from a cut lip. Several times he thought it had stopped only to be surprised by a another blow. Suddenly when he had gone untouched long enough to be sure it was all over, he was hit with a hard, vicious blow to the groin. A scream whistled out between his clenched teeth and once again he descended to darkness.


	11. Chapter 11 Broken

Chapter 11 – The rest of the first day.

Warning, fairly explicit scenes of physical violence.

Haruka slumped against the wall again, the pull on his right arm sending pain throughout his upper body. Whenever they had left after the beating, they had left the blindfold in place and his arms still strung up against the wall. He couldn't sit down and his legs kept giving out when he tried to stand up. Standing up hurt his ribs horribly but resting by putting weight on his arms tore at his wound.  
"It can't be later than afternoon yet," he yelled at himself. "They haven't even done anything major to you yet. How can you be in so much pain?" He felt disgusted that he was such a sniveling brat and wanted so badly to moan and cry. He kept telling himself he should be able to ignore the pain but it went on and on with out any rest and he thought it was going to drive him crazy. Then he heard footsteps at the door.

"Well there Haruka, how are you doing? We were so sad that you couldn't join us for lunch." Haruka could smell dinner on their clothes, his stomach growled. He jumped when a hand reached out and caressed his cheek. "Oh my, you have a fever. We don't want that." He sucked in a startled breath as he was suddenly dashed with freezing cold water. "That should cool you down. Come, Vinnie, let's give our dear friend a rest."

He heard the rustling of chains and suddenly his arms slumped, the tension draining from his shoulders. He slumped to the floor and lay flat; his throbbing cheek against the cool linoleum. He felt enormous relief from being trapped in the sitting/standing position he had been in all morning. As he drifted in the greyness he felt something, movement around his left hand, pressure..... Haruka reared up as a scream ripped from his throat. "Oh," came a voice above him. "My bad. I do believe I broke a finger. Are you SURE you can't give me those codes, Haruka?" Haruka fainted 3 more times, always revived with more freezing water before the men left the room. With the blindfold still on he was never able to tell when the heel of Crusader's shoe would come down on one of his fingers, breaking bones and cracking knuckles. After the last time, Crusader looked down at the still form and the crumbled, broken fingers of his left hand and muttered to the others, "I believe we will leave now."

"Boss?" Asked the heavyset man who had leered at Haruka earlier.

"Yes, Jinjou. I believe our captive is still too spirited. You may have your turn at him later."

*********** GD *********** GD *****************

Nishiwaki, Mifune, Noda and Morishige had just evacuated the Embassy, drawn up the search plans for the bomb squad and decided on an additional guard rotation for the Embassy when Nishiwaki's phone beeped again. He listened to phone and then very gently and with great care set it down on the table. The others darted uneasy looks at each it other. "It seems," he said with deliberate calmness "that the Senate has called an emergency Senate meeting for Friday." There was dead silence in the room for at least 5 minutes. "Mifune, cancel all leave and vacation time until Sunday – except for Ishikawa and Iwase. If we drag them back Dr Sakai will have my ears. At least those two can enjoy some time off."

********* GD ************* ********

This time Haruka was out for hours. Or at least he assumed he was. Being blindfolded all the time made it hard to tell. But even though he was laying on the floor with enough play in the chains for him to work it off, he didn't. He knew the games played in interrogations. He would leave the blindfold on and give no one an excuse to inflict more pain and pretend it was his fault. He tried to settle into a more comfortable position and whimpered in agony as he moved his left hand. For a moment he thought he was going to be sick, but deep breathing and tightening his stomach muscles allowed him to handle it. It wasn't just his hand that had hurt, any movement seemed to cause more pain than he had thought possible from just a simple beating. He gave up on moving and tried to again to find the comforting darkness.

Suddenly Haruka was picked up and pressed against the wall. His arms were pulled over his head and he whimpered again as pain flared in his shoulders, right arm and left hand. "What was that whimper for, you little bitch. You that hot for me?" The body that pressed up against his was heavy and the hands stroking his body were large and broad. Dear God, they going to use rape as part of the game. He shivered involuntarily. "Ohhh, did you like that?" One hand pinched one of his nipples as the body behind his rubbed against his ass. He bit his lip so as not to cry out, but then the other hand closed on his member and squeezed the inflamed, painful tissue. A high pitched yelp was jerked out of his mouth.

"Oh, that's right. You're just a little sore there, aren't you?" There was a chuckle in his ear accompanied by the thrusting of a large, thick tongue into the ear canal. Then a bite, almost heavy enough for teeth to meet through the earlobe. Haruka stiffened but managed not to cry out. Suddenly both hands moved down to his hips, grabbing the globes of his butt and pulling them towards his hips. Haruka could not help it, he screamed as it felt like a knife tried to rip through the insides of his body and his lower body was slammed against the wall. He felt the warm liquid blood run down his thighs. He couldn't stop himself from whimpering as again and again he felt like he was being split open with each thrust. It seemed to last forever. Tears rolled down his cheaks as he thought of Motohisa and his tender loving. One final thrust and it was over. Haruka slumped against the wall sobbing for the memory of his lover and their wonderful times together. He felt soiled and broken.

**************** GD *****************

This is story is much longer than I ever expected it to be.


	12. Chapter 12 Looking forward to time alo

Chapter 12

NOTICE: if when you read chapter 11 it ended in Ishikawa passing out than you need to re-read the last chapter, I've re-written it a little.

Warning, graphic physical abuse and rape.

Haruka had no idea when he finally passed out or fell asleep that night. His entire body throbbed with pain. He desperately wanted just a few minutes of peace. He knew he was moaning aloud but couldn't find it within himself to care. All he wanted was release. He had a sudden flashback of the day he had been taken and his thoughts about "only" having to wait 72 hours for release. He laughed bitterly. He had had no idea what being tortured for information meant back then. No matter how much training one had, nothing could prepare you for reality. He thought of his brothers and that made him remember his talk with them on why he had wanted to work on anti-terrorism. He must remember that lives, possibly hundreds of them, depended on him not giving away information.

*****************************************************************

Iwase's face held a gentle smile as he watched the scenery on the side of the road go by. He was sitting in a bus, the final stage of the trip to Nyuto Onsen, a selection of hot springs in northern Japan. He and Haruka had chosen a rather rustic ryokan to stay in and he looked forward to soaking out whatever tension might still be in their bodies in the various hot springs in the area.

******************************************************************

Haruka knew it was morning when he heard footsteps entering the room. After 36 hours with no food and little sleep, he was starting finding it hard to think. Sometimes he forgot where he was or what had happened to him (courtesy of the fever he had started running). But being yanked up off the floor and pinned to the wall brought everything back to him in a rush. Suddenly a hand grabbed his chin and the blindfold was yanked off his head. He blinked dazedly in the sudden light and then shuddered when he saw Crusader's face right in front of his.

Crusader looked deep into the eyes of the man in front of him. The hazel eyes were no longer sharp and clear, nor did he see the anger and fire that had been in them the day before. Maybe now he could get what he wanted.

"Well?" he lightly slapped the face in front of him. "What about those codes? Give them to me!"

Haruka flinched from the slap and hated himself for it. But still, he couldn't give the man what he wanted. Too many lives were at stake. He said nothing, just shifted his eyes so that he didn't have to look at the cruel face in front of him. Another blow to his face, this one much harder.

"I want those codes. GIVE THEM TO ME!

Rhythmic blows began to fall on his face. He felt his lip split open again and another blow caught the corner of his left eye sending a blinding flash across his vision and along with a sharp pain that made him close his eyes. Finally just as he began to pass out, the blows stopped. Dimly he heard something about water and braced himself for the cold. Instead he felt a cup held against his lips and water spilled into his mouth.

**********************************************

Iwase frowned as he put his suitcase down in the suit of rooms registered to Ishikawa and himself. He knew he was early, but still; he had hoped to find Ishikawa already here. Oh well, he was probably still on the road. He looked at the yukatas laid out for the two of them and grinned. As usual, he would have to ask the desk for a larger size. One size fit all did not apply to a man of his height (6'4") and build.

************************************************

Haruka's arms were forced over his head at an angle from his body. He winced as his full weight came down on his shoulders, already sore from the day before. His arms were over his head and spread out but not parallel to his body. He thought this angle was one that would eventually cause his shoulders to dislocate. Thinking about why things were being done to him helped him cope with what was going on. But it didn't seem to be helping as much as before. He felt weak all over and knew he was feverish. He wanted to cry out and tell them to stop, that he'd give them anything they wanted if they would quit this and leave him alone. Once again he reminded himself of all those who could die if Crusader had access to the codes.

The blindfold was settled back over his eyes. "One last chance Haruka, give me those code." Haruka didn't even listen to the words. He had remembered that it was Wednesday. The day he was supposed to meet at the hot springs with Iwase. He'd looked at information for all the different ryokan's so he knew what the place looked like. He'd been anticipating a quite couple of days with Iwase, both of them – what was that? A scream ripped from his throat as a burning on his underarm intensified into a white hot pain. As he continued screaming he smelt burning flesh and blackness descended.

*************************************************************

Iwase looked around the hotel room. He had changed into a yukata that fit him and put all his clothes away. He had studied the brouchers on the small table in the room that told of all the different activities the ryochan had to offer their guests and still Ishikawa hadn't arrived. Now what? He really didn't want to soak in one of the hot springs until he had company. He smiled softly. Yes, it would be so much more fun once Haruka had arrived.

*************************************************************

It wasn't just the water that woke him up this time but also the a slapping across his face. A body was pressed up close to him, invading his personal space but able to feel every muscle of his that moved. As he woke up and muscles changed from lax to tense, the slapping stopped. After a long moment the body pressed against his moved away. He shuddered as the invader moved away from his personal space. "Well, that was fun." A small metal click. "Would like to feel it on your other arm."

"No, please, don't." Hanuka didn't recognize his own voice, broken and pleading.

"You know how to stop me, give me those codes."

"I can't, I can't." Tears began to roll down his face. "Please, not again."

"Then give me those codes!"

There was nothing but silence and the whimpering of pain. Then screams. When the screams had turned to hoarse almost soundless cries and repeated, mindless pleas to stop; the men finally left the room.

**************************************************************

Iwase opened his eyes slowly and rolled over on the futon. He gazed around the windows puzzled. He had lain down for a short nap and... it was almost dark out? He looked around the room. Nothing had changed; Haruka's luggage wasn't in the room, the second yukata hadn't been moved. Could Haruka not be here? But if it was already dark... he frowned and got up to go talk to the front desk. When he found that he was correct and Ishikawa had not yet checked in; his frown grew even deeper. No matter what, he was sure Haruka would have been here by now. And he hadn't called to say he would be late. Haruka checked his phone. No, no calls. He headed back to the room. He'd call Nishiwaki. He would assure Iwase that all was fine, that he'd heard from Haruka that morning and he was just running late. Maybe there had been a car accident? The roads here were all mountain ones. Maybe Haruka was in a hotel somewhere along the way, sick. Maybe...

**************************************************************

Haruka could think of nothing but the burning agony in his shoulders. He wasn't aware of the whimpers of pain that filled the room. Suddenly he felt a body press against his from the back. He knew the feel, the shape, the smell. He hated it. The man rubbed his naked body against Haruka's.

"What nice little cries you have. Who would have guessed it'd be so easy to break your spirit."

"No, don't."

"Aww, what's the matter little bitch, you don't like this?" An obscene caress wrung another "Stop" from him. "But you haven't given Crusader those codes yet. I get to do this as much as I want until you do. So go ahead and hold out. Day after day I will look forward to our nights together."The man laughed as he slid himself up and down Haruka's body.

Haruka tried to move to get away from him. "No, no little one. Stay still for me." The man bent over and then suddenly grabbed the back of Haruka's neck with his mouth. His teeth sank in deeply and Haruka felt the pain blend with that of the man plunging into him. He seemed to be using his teeth to hold Haruka still as he tore into his body. The pain was even worse than the first time. Haruka tried to scream but all that came out were hoarse pants. Finally he slumped against the wall unable to move or to even protest as the rapist added other bites to other parts of his body. He shuddered and wondered if the man was a cannibal, all the bites were bleeding. His mind told him that he was wandering in this thoughts, that this was just another part of his torture. But some part of his mind insisted on continuing with pictures of pieces of flesh being torn out of his body.


	13. Chapter 13 We have a problem

Chapter 13 – We have a problem.

Nishiwaki had just finished his shower and was drying off when his cell phone beeped. He checked the display and felt his heart sink when he saw it was Iwase calling. He knew what that meant. He was right, there was a problem.

He answered the phone. "Yes Iwase, you're right. There's a problem."

"What do you mean, I'm right! If something was wrong why didn't you call me?"

"I wasn't certain until you called. I thought it was just the Instructor being himself and wanting his traceless vacation."

"You thought..Wait! When was the last time you heard from him?" Iwase thought his heart was going to pound out of his chest as he waited for Nishiwaki's answer.

"He left his brothers' place Monday morning." Nishiwaki's voice was flat but he closed his eyes in pain as he delivered the news.

Iwase collapsed on the bed. Two and a half days. NO! He couldn't be dead, he couldn't. For a long minute he just sat there.

"Iwase! Iwase listen to me!" There was no answer. Nishiwaki took a deep breath. "Motohisa, listen. Just because we haven't heard from him doesn't mean he's dead." He was lying and he knew it. But he also knew that every possibility had to be checked out."

"What - " the voice on the other end of the phone took a deep ragged breath and then managed to choke out a little more. "What do you mean?" Deep breath, "What else" he stopped unable to continue.

"All sorts of things. Just listen, if something has happened to him it means we may have a spy here on the inside, someone who leaked information so there's only so much I can do. I need you to stay available while I call in the 10-00. I'll call you back as soon as I know anything, you hear me?"

"Ye – yes."

"Motohisa, promise me. You're not going to do anything until I get back to you."

The voice was a little stronger. "I promise. You have 24 hours."

Nishiwaki didn't even try to ask what would happen after 24 hours. "All right, I doubt it will take that long. I'll call you back as soon as I have anything." He hung up but paused just a moment making plans before he actually did anything. He was thankful that his roommate was Noda. If Noda was the traitor the entire garrison would be dead by now.

He dialed a number on his phone. Noda came out just as the other end answered and seeing him on the phone started to go back into the shower. He was stopped with a wave of the other's hand. If the Instructor was alive he would need Nota's help. If not, well Noda would probably be one of the two that learned of this for the next Instructor. "Hai, this is Nishiwaki of the Tokyo garrison, I need section 15." a pause. "Hai, this is Nishiwaki of the Tokyo garrison. I need to call a 10-00 on Ishikawa Haruka. I believe we may have a leak here so I need for the results to be relayed back to me and to me only. I'll await your return call." He hung up.

"Section 15? A 10-00? What is all this? What's happened to the Instructor? I thought he was on vacation."

"A 10-00 means the Instructor is missing and we don't know where he is. Central Ops is able to trace him by means of an ultra secret tracing device implanted in his body. Iwase and I were the only ones other than the Instructor to know about it but I'm going to need your help to find him – I hope."

"But, if he didn't call in this morning -"

"He hasn't called in at all. I let others persuade me that it was his decision not to call, that he was just trying to make what he had called a "trackless vacation" truly trackless. It seemed like something he would do. But he was supposed to meet Iwase today for some time together and evidently he didn't show."

The cell phone rang again. Nishiwaki reached for paper and pen from his desk and flipped it open. "Hai. Hai." Suddenly he relaxed slightly. "A building? No, I have someone here who can get that for me. No. We're closer, we can handle it. I will. Thank you." He flipped the phone shut.

"Noda, there's and address on this sheet. I need you to get me plans for the building and if you can, get some information on who owns it. But the plans first." He handed the sheet to Noda who immediately went over to the computer on the desk that was his and started working. He still had several questions, but now was not the time.

Nishiwaki once again reached for his phone. "Mifune, I need you to come to my room right now. No, I'll tell you when you get here."

He dialed a second number. It rang several times before it was answered. "Iwase, listen. There's a chance. He's in a building. No, I'm not going to tell you where yet. You know why. I want you to get to Maebashi as soon as you can. I'll call you as soon as I have some definite plans." He clicked off without even saying goodbye. At this point he felt it would be best to keep Iwase slightly off balance.

The door opened and Mifune walked in. His generally jovial face sobered as he took in the atmosphere in the room. "What is it. What's wrong."

"The Instructor is missing. He was supposed to meet up with Iwase today and he hasn't shown."

Mifune's face mirrored his shock. "Oh my God, this is my fault. I told you to ignore the fact he hadn't called in. If I hadn't -"

"I still would have done nothing. Mifune, if I had really thought there was a problem I would have tried to figure out what to do as soon as he didn't call in. I agreed with you, I thought it was just him trying to get away from work. Its no one's fault."

"Iwase. If he knows.. what is he doing?"

"Right now he's trying to find a way to get to Maebashi as soon as possible." Mifune looked a question at him. "Maebashi is within 40 mins of where a tracking device indicates the Instructor is being held. And I don't want the information about a tracking to device to be mentioned outside this room. Noda is looking for a copy of plans for the building so we know what it looks like. We need to decide how we are going to get into the building and find Ishikawa. We can create a team later when we have our plans made. Lets hope whoever has him wants information from him and is willing to wait to kill him. I'm not telling Iwase exactly where the Instructor is until we join up with him. He'd completely take things into his own hands."


	14. Chapter 14 Don't Leave Me

.."You have 24 hours." And Iwase hung up.

Haruka! Haruka! All Iwase felt like doing was screaming his lover's name. When he first became his bodyguard it was because he had both admired and loved the man. He'd seen him directing the others, standing tall and stern, using a clear loud voice that made people listen to him. Ishikawa had still been carrying the injuries he'd gained when the 7th Instructor was killed but that hadn't deterred him from taking command of the garrison and protecting the president's visit from harm. As he'd spent more time getting to know him, and falling deeper in love with him; he'd often taken comfort in the idea that so long as he did his duty he would never have to see Haruka die. But now – he swore if by some miracle Haruka wasn't dead, he'd never leave his side again.

He stiffened as he suddenly remembered "Don't ever leave me again." Haruka had been on the verge of passing out when he said that, weakened from loosing blood from wounds received while they had been trying to escape terrorists in America. Iwase had been with him but not really. He hadn't been in his right mind, suffering from complete amnesia that had somehow been caused when he'd hit his head against the concrete floor of a parking garage while protecting Haruka from a bomb blast. When he'd recovered his memory he'd found Haruka trying to hold a group of terrorists at bay with nothing more than a small knife and his own will. They'd been closing in to try and force information about the newest computer technology from him. (_Ch 8 – 9_) Was Ishikawa calling for him now?

His cell phone rang. "Haruka!" he quickly checked the phone and then stopped as he looked a the read out. He wiped his eyes of tears he hadn't even noticed were falling and then took a deep breath and bracing himself flipped the phone open.

"Where? Why? But I want - " the phone was dead before he could finish his question.

He fumed silently for a second and then called the front desk. He was lucky, if he got out of the room in 15 minutes he could make a bullet train to Maebashi. He threw his clothes back into his suitcase and then stopped by the front desk telling them that everything else in the room could be thrown or given away, that a family emergency had come up. Then he caught the waiting cab. He knew Nishiwaki was taking advantage of the fact that he couldn't call the garrison because of the possibility of a leak, but he also understood what he was doing. He'd give him a few hours and then call him back. If he were lying, if this wasn't leading to a raid to rescue Haruka – he wouldn't finish that sentence even in the privacy of his own mind.

A fist hitting Haruka's face, Haruka on the ground and someone kicking him in the ribs. Iwase shuddered and wrenched him mind away from imagining Haruka beaten insensible and collapsed on the ground at his feet. He knew he should get some rest before arriving at Maebashi but all he could do was worry about what had happened to Haruka. How long had they had him? In reality he agreed with Nishiwaki, he wouldn't doubt at all that Haruka not calling was just him wanting to have his dream vacation. He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. What if they had just caught him and were planning on using sodium penethal on him? What if even now they were about to put the drug that would kill Haruka into his veins? He wanted to run screaming through the train to the conductor's room and make them go even faster. Once again he checked his watch, still 3 hours to go. How could he wait that long and still be sane?

"Don't leave me Haruka!" he begged silently. "Don't leave me, I don't want to live without you."


	15. Chapter 15 The Plan

Chapter 15 – The Plan

Suddenly the printer next to Noda's desk began printing out papers. "Its a house! Look here, its not big at all!"

Both Nishiwaki and Mifune crowded over Noda's shoulders to look at the terminal. "Those plans don't look quite like your typical house."

"Its owned by some kind of corporation, I think its rented out for corporate retreats. There are 2 other nearby buildings and then nothing else for over a mile. I'm printing off the plans for all the buildings just in case. Then I'll check on who its all rented to."

Nishiwaki patted Noda's shoulder. "Good work, and fast too. We are all going to have to be quick. I want to break him out before daylight.

"Before daylight?!" Mifune exclaimed. "But why so fast?"

"If he's still alive and they haven't had him very long they may be planing on giving him truth serum as soon as the day starts."

That comment got the silence it deserved. They all knew what would happen if the Instructor – or for that matter anyone who held a certain level of security – was injected with the drug.

A couple of hours later ..

"Okay, so thermal readings indicate that there are only 4 or 5 men in the outer homes, probably guards who are off shift. There are 3 guards on duty, walking a perimeter and the rest are in the same house as the Instructor. Since its a high scale conference house, there are several balconies all over it. We'll take out the exterior guards and then put teams on each balcony and we'll all attack at the same time. We should be able to mop everything up without too much trouble."

Nishiwaki looked up from the plans he was examining. "We've got 3 hours for everyone to catch a short nap and then get ready. I'll wake the rest of the garrison up at 3:30 am and tell them we're going on a volunteer only secret mission. It'll take time but as everyone gets in the helicopter to move out, we'll have them dump all electronic devises from their pockets. That way if the spy IS in the group, he won't be able to communicate with anyone. Guns, stun devices, flashlights, etc will all be issued at the rendezvous site. When this is all over, the entire garrison is going on lock down until we do a triple security check on each and every worker here."

Mifune headed out the door for his room and Noda started turning the computer off. Nishiwaki picked up his cellphone and dialed a number. "Iwasi?" He listened as the other man answered and then went on. "I've got a rendezvous site for you." He gave him the coordinates and local directions. "Can you be there by 4:30? … Good. Yes, we're going in after him. We'll hopefully be early enough that no one is up yet. Yes, I swear I'm letting you on it. I know you'd never forgive me if I didn't. I'll see you there in a few hours. Bye."

*****************GD GD GD ********************************************

Nishiwaki watched at men climbed into the helicopters. Well, he had done what he could. They had only accepted volunteers for a secret raid taking place immediately. Even though no one knew what was going on, they all knew it was unusual. Breaking into buildings, going on the offensive was not what the group was about, they were about defense and protecting others. But they all had training in rescuing kidnapped victims, one never knew when the politician you were guarding might become a hostage. Every person had been checked for metallic or electronic devices before entering the helicopter landing field. Still, they wouldn't be told their goal until after they had landed and were getting read to board the vans.

WHUMP...... WHUMP..... WHUMP

Nishiwaki peered through the early morning gloom. The helicopter was coming up on the landing area. He had planed the course to fly low and come in behind a hill a good 2 miles from house Ishikawa was being held in. Even if seeing helicopters that far from the place would alert the guards patrolling at the conference center, they shouldn't be able to see or hear them due to their flight plan. Yes, there! There was the landing site. They were landing in a large parking lot and he could see the vans they would switch to sitting under the security lights, it looked like Iwase was there already.

After landing and a quick conference with Iwase to bring him up to date on the plans, Nishiwaki called all the men over to stand behind one of the parked vans. He stood just inside the open back doors of one of the vans. "We've kept this top secret because we know there is some sort of leak in the garrison." A whisper of shocked murmurs ran around the group. "But that's not the most important thing right now. The Instructor is being held captive in a house about 30 minutes from here." This time the comments and exclamations of shock were loud enough that Nishiwaki had to pause for a moment. We don't know how long he's been held captive and in all reality, although we hope he's alive, we don't know for sure. Our number one priority is to rescue the Instructor. Number two is to capture those who have him and find out how they knew where to find him. I don't really think this needs to be said; but the first priority is the most important. If you have to shoot to kill to save someone, do it. If you see someone running away and the Instructor in the other direction, ignore the ones running away and free and protect the Instructor instead."

****************

I've really never written anything this long before. Please feel free to say what you don't like about it. I refuse NOT to finish this story but I won't bother writing more if no one likes or tells me how I can improve it to make it inetersting.


	16. Chapter 16 Iscariot

Chapter 16 - Iscariot

Iscariot shifted uneasily from side to side. How the hell had this happened? He couldn't believe they had found out the Instructor had been taken. And how did they know where he was? And if they knew where he was, why didn't they know who had him? Not a word had been mentioned about Crusader in the briefing__and he was certain they would have issued special instructions about him if they had known he was here. And what was he, Iscariot supposed to do? He'd just joined in on the raid because it was so unusual he was certain that whatever he learned about it would be information Crusader would want. If this raid succeeded... He swallowed a suddenly dry throat. Crusader would never believe he couldn't have done something to warn him.

He was waiting with just 3 other people to break into one of the bedrooms. The countdown to break in all at once should start any minute now. Suddenly he looked around. Everyone was concentrating on the room, maybe he could pull this off. He slowly reached into one of his belt pockets with his left hand, his right held a gun just as all the others did. He mentally crossed his fingers and then threw the flash popper in towards the balcony door, shutting his own eyes as he did so. As soon as it went off, he fired his gun sending a bullet through the balcony door. He then rushed into the room, passing the men jumping from their beds. "Its a rescue mission, kill the men outside the door!" he shouted as ran through the room. He knew that Crusader would want Ishikawa killed rather than rescued, if he could pull that off without anyone from the garrison finding out, maybe Crusader would forgive him and not order him killed.

Assault teams all over the house sprang into action. They weren't all in position and many scrambled to try and enter the house and reach men who should have been sleeping before they could gather their wits and grab their weapons. Iwase and his group burst into their assigned room, although there were no lights on the night goggles they all wore allowed to see that only two people in it. Iwase immediately knocked one out as two of his men took care of the other. With a muttered "Secure them!" Iwase ran out the door. He needed to figure out where Hanuka was and protect him. He could hear windows and door crashing every where, shots and yells and the occasional scream. Part of him wondered what had caused the screw up but most of his mind was concentrated on making his way into the center of the house. He knew they would have tried to put Ishikawa in a center room away from windows and the possibility of escape.

As Iwase moved silently towards the center area of the second floor, he saw a flicker of movement in front of him. A large, heavily built man was opening a door to a center room. He waited until the man entered the room before slipping through the door after him. Even with night vision goggles it was hard to see in the room, there was no ambient light at all. He could barely make out the other man feeling his way along the wall Then Iwase saw the manacled figure hanging on the side wall at the same time he started to understand what the man was saying.

"Hey there little bitch, are you awake? Sounds like someone's figured out where you are and come to rescue you. But Crusader said if he can't keep you no one can. Wish I had time for one last game with you but I'm here to kill you instead." Just as the man found the corner and moved towards Haruka, Iwase jumped him. It was an uneven fight. Even if Iwase hadn't heard enough to send him into a killing rage, he had far more training and strength than the brute he attacked. He didn't know how long the other man had been laying on the floor not moving before he finally came to himself enough to stop hitting him, and he really didn't care.

"Haruka?" There was no answer. "Haruka, its Iwase. I'm going to get you down from there, you're going to be alright."

Iwase moved to the wall and started feeling his way towards what was keeping Haruka tied to the wall. The first touch of skin frightened him. He could feel the heat of a high fever. His fingers drifted over the skin, not wanting to touch until he knew what was wrong and what he needed to do to release him from the wall. Next his fingers touched handcuffs and beyond that lay swollen, broken fingers. He sucked in his breath in rage, but concentrated on finding where the chains attached to the hand cuff went. He didn't want to even turn on a flashlight yet. He didn't want anyone to be attracted to the room until the entire house had been secured. Investigation proved that chains from the handcuffs went up and looped over nails in the wall before ending in bolts driven into studs in the walls. Iwase carefully lifted the chains off the nails and loosened them letting Hanuka slump to the floor. He bent down to make sure he was lying comfortably. Realizing Haruka was naked he pulled off his coat and laid it on the floor next to him. Haruka's skin radiated fever and his breathing was shallow. He had still made no noise so Iwase was guessing he was unconscious. He carefully moved the coat underneath Haruka and prepared to wrap him up in it. Behind him in the doorway a figure raised his gun.


	17. Chapter 17 Found

Chapter 17 - Found

Mifune growled under his breath as he tied off the strip of cloth over the wound in his upper arm. God dammit, he could **not** believe that Iscariot was a traitor. How the hell had he gotten past the screening? And what did he think he was doing here? As soon as that last question was formed, he knew the answer – kill the Instructor before he was rescued. With another muttered curse, Mifune glanced around the room. Even as he started to the door he moved the back of his teeth in a pattern that switched his radio to the command channel. He waited until he heard the clicks that indicated Nishiwaki was on the channel. "Iscariot is the informer. He's the one that jumped the gun. Nakajima's dead and Shinomya is badly injured. I'm tracking Iscariot."

"Understood" was all he got back but in the next minute there was an override into the channels that only squad leaders could hear. "Iscariot has been identified as the informer. I repeat, Iscariot is the informer, do not trust him."

Mifune paused beside the door-frame. Where the hell did that damn traitor go? He slowly poked his head outside the door and verified that no one was in the hallway. Unsurprisingly it looked like almost everyone had been caught in the bedrooms and were easily being round up. He hoped they only had the one casualty tonight. Suddenly he caught the movement of a man ahead of him with a very large head. He could tell it was one of the team with the night gear on his head. The man didn't look backwards but proceeded down the hallway. Mifune grinned to himself, he didn't know whether to feel slighted or be glad that Iscariot thought he could be taken care of so easily.

Mifune turned the same corner he had seen Iscariot take earlier and froze. The man was standing in a hallway, no he was raising a gun! Mifune didn't even try to call out and stop him; just as Iscariot was aiming his gun, Mifune fired his. Iscariot fell without firing his weapon. Mifune ran to the doorway and then stopped just short of the entrance. He did a quick check behind him and didn't see anyone. He flipped the radio off. "Anyone in there?"

"Mifune, is that you? Its Iwase. I've found the Instructor but I need some light to see how badly he's been hurt."

"Let me report in first." Mifune switched on the radio. "This is Mifune. I'm with Iwase, Iscariot has been taken care of and Iwase found the Instructor." As he spoke he handcuffed the still breathing Iscariot and took his weapon belt and all other weapons from him. He then stepped over him and crouched down so that he could watch the hallway from the inside the room.

Suddenly Nishiwaki's voice came on over all the circuits. "Basic goal accomplished. All done except for cleanup. Take off your night vision goggles, anyone who wants can turn on lights."

Mifune looked over at Iwase who seemed to be draping the Instructor in something. "Iwase, go ahead and take your goggles off, we really can't see more than outlines in here, I'll turn on the lights." He saw Iwase take of his goggles and then he reached over to the light switch, closed his eyes and turned the lights on.

Iwase kept his eyes closed as he counted to 10. He knew he had to let them adjust to the change in light level. Then he opened his eyes and looked down. "No" was the weak protest that left his lips. He knew it was Haruka there in front of him on the floor but the only thing he recognized was the hair. Dirty, bloody and soiled. It was still the light fine hair he loved. The face – one eye was bruised and swollen so bad it couldn't have opened even if Haruka had been awake. Both eyes were black the result of a nose that looked more like a flattened pancake than a nose. Lips were busted and bleeding although he didn't think Haruka had lost any teeth. He could see into the mouth slightly as he seemed to have to breathe through it.

With trembling hands he reach out, not even thinking about what he was doing and unwrapped the jacket he had put over Haruka. Most of his body was purple and blue, the result of repeated beatings, a bloodied rag tied around his right arm indicated a bleeding wound while his left hand lay slight curled and very swollen Each finger seemed to point in a different direction and some of them seemed to manage to point in two different directions. He knew those fingers had been crushed. There were 2nd and 3rd degree burns under each arm and on his stomach. He could see the blood on the thighs without even turning Haruka over. Iwase tenderly wrapped him back up. Despite the fact that the people who had done this were most likely already dead he shook with the need to hit them, to deal back some of the damage they had done to Haruka. Where had he been when this was happening? Was he laughing with his sister at her graduation? Eating a cozy family dinner with her and his mother? How long had Haruka been tortured? The questions beat over and over at the shell of his anger and a picture of Haruka's battered body hung in front of his eyes. The anger he had been gripping to him broke and Iwase bowed his head.


	18. Chapter 18 Mourning

Chpter 18 - Mourning

Mifune was keeping a careful eye on the hallway when he heard some sort of sound from Iwase. He wheeled around to see Iwase lift up an edge of a coat. He could see the Instructor's hair and – he tensed as he realized the reason he hadn't been able to quite place what was where, was that the Instructor's face was so badly beaten he hadn't SEEN it as a face. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Then he noticed Iwase folding the coat back over the rest of Ishikawa's body. Iwase's body dipped down and suddenly started to shake. Mifune heard the heavy sobs start up. He was completely stumped. What the hell could he do? It was insane that Iwase, large, little boy Iwase with the perpetually smiling face could be "really" crying. And Ishikawa! If he was that bad off, they needed an ambulance now.

Click, click. He barely waited until Nishiwaki signaled he was on the command channel. "We need medics hear right away. Second floor inside the northern end. And, and – Nishiwaki, I think you need to come here. Don't let anyone else here."

"Is the Instructor dead?"

"I don't think so but you need to get here right away. And we need those medics even more. Right now!" Mifune knew he was babbling on the radio and knew it was unprofessional but he couldn't seem to stop it. The Instructor with Iwasi next to him was the head of the organization. Nishiwaki stood only slightly below the two. Mifune knew he was considered the third in command but right now the command structure felt like it was breaking down and he was hanging onto a railing with one hand and his feet were waving in the air. Behind him the heavy sobbing continued. "Iwase, Iwase – calm down, its going to be okay. I've sent for medics. Nothing seemed to stop Iwase. Mifune edged close enough to see that Ishikawa was still breathing and then heard a noise from the hallway. He ran back to the hallway to see 2 more from the garrison checking out the hallway.

"Yokota, I want you to guard that end of the corridor. The only ones allowed in the hallwa are Nishiwaki or the medical team. You got that? "

"Yes sir!"

Mifune reached down to grab Iscariot by the belt and dragged his body out of the room and down the hall until it was not far from the two men. "Shourin, I want you to take Iscariot here and take care of him. Get him out of the way and keep him safe. Get treatment for him when you can. He's been feeding information to the enemy and we're going to need to interrogate him later."

Shourin's eyes widened when he heard what Iscariot had done but he quickly grabbed the man and swung him over his shoulder as he moved off towards the outside. Yokota retreated back to the end of the hall. Mifune moved back to his position by the doorway and looked around the room. He didn't know what he would do if the medics got here before Nishiwaki. He glanced towards Iwase but the heavy weeping continued. Noise again from the hallway but this time when he looked he could see Nishiwaki.

"Thank God you're here." He exclaimed as the other man entered the room. Nishiwaki was looking at him like he'd lost his mind when he face suddenly changed and Mifune knew he'd heard the weeping behind him.

Nishiwaki practically ran to the Instructor. He leaned over and checked his breathing and heartbeat. He wasn't happy with the fever but both breathing and heart rate seemed steady enough. "Motohisa," he sat next to him on the floor beside Ishikawa. "Shush, shush. Its going to be alright. He pulled Iwase over to lean against him. "What's got you so upset? We've found him. He's okay."

"I wasn't with him!" The words were broken by heavy sobs. "He's so hurt and I wasn't with him. I promised I would always be with him and protect him and he's so broken now. I wasn't there to help him. They hurt him so badly."

"He'll be okay," Nishiwaki said. But Iwase shook his head and gestured. He knew Nishiwaki and knew he would never say anything about what he saw. Nishiwaki lifted the jacket and looked at Haruka. Iwase was surprised to feel a faint tremble of the hard, warm body next to him. He looked over and noticed Nishiwaki's hands were clenched so tight in the jacked that they were white. He lowered the jacked back over Ishikawa and then brought one hand up to pinch his nose. His face was closed in and showed no emotion but his lips were so tight they looked like they had disappeared.

There was noise at the door and Nishiwaki wheeled around on his heels and then relaxed slightly. "Motohisa, the medics are here. Let them work on Haruka and we'll move over in the corner to talk."

Iwase suddenly tore himself from Nishiwaki's arms and threw himself on top of Haruka. "NO! No one should touch him, no one should see him. He wouldn't want anyone to know he had been hurt like this."

"I understand Motohisa, I'll talk to them. They won't say anything and he'll be covered in a sheet when he leaves, up to his chin." Nishiwaki looked up as he spoke and both medics nodded. He felt it would be better if Iwase didn't see Haruka until he was bandaged so he pulled him up and forcefully moved him into a corner and away from Haruka so the medics could work on him. He had to change directions when he noticed a body in one of the corners. He hesitated but then continued with what he was doing. The man looked dead and he was certain that Iwase had checked all dangers before allowing himself to grieve for Ishikawa. "Listen to me, Motohisa. Haruka wouldn't want you to cry like this when you have finally found him. Everyone's so happy he's alive. Pull yourself together or you won't be allowed to go back with him in the helicopter."

Whether it was the last threat or just the fact that he was no longer kneeling next to him, Iwase began to pull himself together. Nishiwaki kept talking softly to him and watching around his shoulder as the medics worked on Ishikawa. Finally they had Ishikawa on the gurney and ready to leave. A light sheet was pulled up to his chin and there was an oxygen mask over his face as well as an IV in his right arm. The left arm and the crushed fingers were hidden under the sheet. Nishiwaki lead Iwase to the gurney. "Look, you stay by this side of the gurney and make sure no one touches the area around his hand and arm or jars the gurney and makes them hurt," he indicated the hand where Crusader had broken all the fingers. "Mifune and I will clear the way and make sure the front and back is protected."

He lead the way out into the hallway and towards the front of the house. Almost all the men who had come on the raid were gathered to see the Instructor. They expected (as they had seen many times before) that the Instructor and Iwase would walk out together and wave to everyone. There were smiles all over and as Nishiwaki was spotted a few cheers went up. But as he began enforcing the formation of a corridor for the gurney and the people in front got a glimpse of the still figure laying on it a heavy silence sank over those in front. Whispers started to spread over the entire gathering and one by one men bowed their heads.


	19. Chapter 19 Who Will Lead?

Chapter 19 – Planning ahead

That evening Nishiwaki and Iwase met with Dr Sakai to discuss Ishikawa's injuries. The meeting was held in the observation area outside Ishikawa's room as Iwase refused to move any further away from Ishikawea's side. He was still feeling as though much of what had happened was his fault for allowing Ishikawa go on vacation by himself. The three men stood by the window that looked into Ishikawa's room. Iwase stood looking through the window while Sakai and Nishiwaki, although turned towards the window were actually looking at each other as they talked.

"It looks like the Instructor was very lucky." Dr Sakai said as he shuffled through several pieces of paper.

"Lucky?!" Iwase's voice was both incredulous and angry and he whirled from his position looking through the window to glare at Dr. Sakai.

"Yes. Judging by the age of the bullet wound on his arm they most likely caught him either late Monday or very early Tuesday. With 48 hours to work on him they could have easily done much more damage. Even the beatings they administered were light compared to what they could have been. He has a couple of cracked ribs but no real organ damage from those except some minor damage in the groin area."

"Doctor," Nishiwaki's voice quietly interrupted him. "Please, instead of telling us what 'might have been' or about minor damage that will not effect his ability to run the garrison; tell us about the major damage he sustained and how long he will be laid up."

"Well, okay. First of all, he's not coming back to work for a long time, possibly months. I anticipate that the antibiotics will take care of the infection from the bullet wound within 24 hours. Meanwhile, we're making arrangements to fly in the best reconstructive surgeons to deal with both his face and his hand over the next couple of days – the infection has to clear up before the surgeons can operate on him."

" He has some damage to his urinary track and bladder caused by several hard blows to the groin. We're keeping a watch on that, it should heal on its own within the next 5 days. Even after all this is over and he is into healing and physical therapy, regulations state that he will have to have a psychiatric evaluation and probably some counseling to deal with the trauma of being tortured."

Nishiwaki frowned. "Is he going to be able to use his left hand as before?" Iwase didn't seem to be paying that much attention to what the doctor was saying and had gone back to standing at the windows looking at Haruka's form laying on the bed. There were so many tubes going into and out of his body he almost didn't look human.

"Well, its not at all my field. I think you will need to talk to the reconstructive surgeon about that, but I doubt that it will ever be as strong as it was. Reconstructive work on tendons and bones just isn't as good as the original. I really can't venture any kind of a guess as to how much flexibility he will have."

"So the major injuries are to the hand, face and groin?" Nishiwaki's eyes narrowed and he seemed to be paying fierce attention to what the doctor was saying. Iwase on the other hand, still seemed more interested in watching Ishikawa.

"Those injuries are the ones that may have a lasting effect on him physically. There will be some scaring from the burns; but although they continue to be painful for several weeks, none of them are large enough to cause long term problems. Psychologically," here the older man paused. "Its hard to say what effect everything that happened to him will have on him emotionally." Both men darted quick glances at the oblivious back of Iwase.

"Thank you Dr Sakai. I'm glad we have someone with your experience to watch over him. I trust you are keeping the results of your tests in a safe place and reminding your people that they are not to talk about Ishikawa's injuries to anyone?"

"Yes, I have no desire to see all of this get out to the rest of the garrison either."

The two men shook hands and then the doctor left the room. Nishiwaki walked over to stand next to Iwase. They both looked through the window for a few minutes. Finally Iwase shook himself slightly. "I should be getting back to him." he said and turned to head for the door.

"Just a minute." Nishiwaki said putting a hand on Iwase's shoulder. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Iwase's voice was impatient and his eyes flickered back through the window to Ishikawa.

"When you are going to take over running the garrison."

Iwase's eyes fastened on Nishiwaki's face. "Run the garrison? Are you crazy?"

"Do you think Ishikawa will push himself to get back to normal if Headquarters appoints someone else to take over his position? Particularly since they might consider it a permanent position." Nishiwaki paused for a moment to let Iwase think about it. "Besides, YOU are the one who has been at the Instructor's side throughout everything he's done recently. You know even more about what he has been doing and what he wants to do in the future than even Mifune and I do."

"You can do it, you were in charge while he was on vacation." Nishiwaki couldn't tell if Iwase was just refusing to consider being in charge or if he was afraid of something. And he didn't care. He was determined to get the man to accept the responsibility of taking care of the garrison. Nishiwaki couldn't leave his own spot in the team vacant and there was currently no one able to take his place. Besides, if Iwase spent all his time glued to Ishikawa's side over the next several weeks he might never allow the Instructor to recover emotionally from what had happened.

"Its one thing for me to be in charge for a few days during a – what was supposed to be - a calm period; and a very different thing entirely to be the one setting the schedules and deciding how the jobs are handled permanently. We don't have the experience of being right there on the front lines that you do from being at the Inspector's side and Headquarters is not going to accept our moving up."

"But, but – I have to be **here**. With him."

"For a few more days; yes, I agree. But once he starts in on the surgeries and the physical therapy he will be spending a lot of time sleeping. You don't have to be with him every minute of the day. Look, Iwase. I promise; if you do this, Mifune and I will help you. You won't actually be doing his entire job on your own. But if we let the Instructor's job be given to someone else, if he doesn't feel wanted or that he needs to work to get back to full capacity so he can resume his job then I'm afraid, I think -."

Nishiwaki's voice broke for a moment and it was Iwase's turn to grip his arm. "I'm really afraid he'll never completely recover, that he'll be broken for the rest of his life."

Nishiwaki's eyes were turned downwards looking at the floor but Iwase could still see the sadness in them. He suddenly remembered Nishiwaki's story of how he had watched Ishikawa take over upon the death of the previous instructor. He remembered how Nishiwaki had talked to him about the Inspector's insecurities, the way he hid things and thought about them on his own. How he had helped them in their relationship. It took a lot of time and attention to know a man that well.

He might be the one who had manged to finally win the Instructor's heart, but that didn't mean he was the only one who cared for him.

"I understand, and I'll do my best but I'll need your help."

***********GDGDGDGDG ***********************************

There is an entire separate story about how the Ishikawa heals and what all happens while he is healing. But I don't know when I will be able to write that one.


End file.
